Teresa R. Sayward (born 1944/1945)
was a member of the
New York State Assembly
The New York State Assembly is the lower house of the New York State Legislature, with the New York State Senate being the upper house. There are 150 seats in the Assembly. Assembly members serve two-year terms without term limits.
The Assem ...
for
Willsboro
Willsboro is a town in Essex County, New York, United States, and lies south of the city of Plattsburgh. As of the 2010 census, the town population was 2,025. The town is named after early landowner William Gilliland.
History
During the Amer ...
(the 113th district), first elected in 2002. She is a
Republican.
[
]
Career
Sayward was a dairy farmer with her husband Ken for 16 years until 1988, when they sold their farm due it becoming unprofitable.
[
] She has also worked as a real estate agent, an antiques dealer and as an interior decorator.
[ After leaving dairy farming she stood for election as the Republican candidate for ]town supervisor
The administrative divisions of New York are the various units of government that provide local services in the State of New York. The state is divided into boroughs, counties, cities, townships called "towns", and villages. (The only borou ...
of Willsboro, winning on her second attempt in 1992.[
]
Political history
Sayward served as town supervisor for the Town of Willsboro for 11 years and as chairwoman of the Essex County Board of Supervisors.[ She was awarded the title of "Outstanding Local Official" for 2002 by the Adirondack Park Local Government Review Board.
Sayward was elected to the New York State Assembly in 2002, replacing Elizabeth Little (who ran for State Senate that year)][ in a six-way contest in which she won 52% of the vote. Sayward had narrowly beaten Thomas Scozzafava to the Republican nomination, and he stood against her as a Conservative candidate. Sayward spent $112,000 on the campaign. In 2006 she became the secretary of the Assembly Republican Conference.
She ran unopposed, as a Republican with the endorsement of the ]Independence Party of New York
The Independence Party is a political party in the U.S. state of New York. The party was founded in 1991 by Dr. Gordon Black, Tom Golisano, and Laureen Oliver from Rochester, New York, and acquired ballot status in 1994. They lost their ballot ...
, in the November 2008[
] and November 2010 general elections.Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the U ...
for re-election.
Positions
Sayward favored lowering health care costs, workers' compensation costs, and local property taxes.[ She argued for extensive state budget cuts. She supported Governor ]David Paterson
David Alexander Paterson (born May 20, 1954) is an American politician and attorney who served as the 55th governor of New York, succeeding Eliot Spitzer and serving out nearly three years of Spitzer's term from March 2008 to December 2010. A ...
's 2009 proposal to legalize same-sex marriage in New York[ and gave an emotional speech in the State Assembly that helped pass a bill for legalization. Her elder son Glenn is gay, and she views gay marriage as a civil rights issue;][
] she received significant campaign donations from out of state as a result of her position,[
] but lost the endorsement of the Conservative Party of New York State
The Conservative Party of New York State is an American political party founded in 1962 following conservative dissatisfaction with the Republican Party in New York. Running on the Conservative Party line, James L. Buckley won election to the U ...
.[ She campaigned nationally for gay rights][
] and became involved with the Log Cabin Republicans. She supported her friend Dede Scozzafava
Dierdre Kathryn "Dede" Scozzafava ( ; born April 28, 1960) is an American politician in New York. She represented District 122 in the New York State Assembly from 1999 to 2010. Scozzafava held office as a member of the Republican Party, but la ...
's 2009 campaign for Congress. She is a member of the National Rifle Association
The National Rifle Association of America (NRA) is a gun rights advocacy group based in the United States. Founded in 1871 to advance rifle marksmanship, the modern NRA has become a prominent Gun politics in the United States, gun rights ...
.
Family
Sayward and her husband Kenneth[ have four children: Glenn (b. 1961),][
] Yvonne (b. 1963/1964),[ Kyle (1969—2007),][
] and Wendy (b. 1972/1973).[
]
References
External links
Assemblywoman Sayward's Official Campaign Site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sayward, Teresa
1940s births
Living people
American LGBT rights activists
Republican Party members of the New York State Assembly
People from Willsboro, New York
Women state legislators in New York (state)
Activists from New York (state)
21st-century American politicians
21st-century American women politicians